Thirteen-year-old Johnny Anders is something of a misfit, with no friends and a poor school record, but all this begins to change when he is awakened one night to find a soldier-ghost in his bedroom. Johnny is taken back in time to meet a series of unusual heroes in Canada's war history. These include Joan Bamford Fletcher, who commandeered Japanese soldiers to take hundreds of wounded civilians to safety through the jungles of Indonesia, and the much-decorated Raymond Collishaw, through whom Johnny learns that Canada played a role in the Russian Revolution. Not wanting to appear ignorant of his country's history in front of a soldier - even if he is a ghost - Johnny starts some research of his own. While doing so he becomes friends with an intriguing new girl at school who has her own reasons to be interested in Canada's war history. The pair become increasingly closer as together they set about uncovering why it is that Johnny has been chosen to be a witness to Canadians atwar.